1. NEWS, VIEWS AND INITIATIVES FROM ACROSS THE ETF COMMUNITY
ISSUE//17
May2010
INSIDETHIS ISSUE
06
16
22
Far from equality for
women at work
Regional approach can
deliver big benefits
Wicked problems and the
work of the school
Taking Europe’s
education and culture
to the highest level
Jan Truszczy ski, new ETF
Governing Board chairman
ń
Taking Europe’s
education and culture
to the highest level
Jan Truszczy ski, new ETF
Governing Board chairman
ń

2. Live&Learn
Letter from the editor
THE TORINO PROCESS
As part of the ETF’s policy learning
actions in its partner countries, the
biennial Torino Process attempts to
encourage evidence based policy
making in VET and employment.
Its objective is to provide concise,
documented analysis of VET and
employment reform in each country,
including the identification of key
policy trends, challenges and
constraints as well as good practice
and opportunities.
It has two goals:
+ To strengthen policy making
capability by improving the
effectiveness of policy analysis
through self-assessment. In the
first year of the two year process,
the conclusions of the analysis
are expected to validate the
strategic policy orientations and
inform subsequent policy
adjustments. The second year
will concentrate on policy areas
which are at risk if not addressed
in a structural manner.
+ To give a new impetus to ETF
work during the period 2010-2013.
The Torino Process aims to
strengthen or create institutional
policy platforms - national
institutional networks - in an
attempt to enhance policy dialogue
and coherent, consistent and
integrated policy making.
The ETF will assist and guide the
process for as long as is needed and
should be perceived as a partner of
the process – a kind of critical friend
to key stakeholders in a country, be
they government, economic and
social partners, civil society
organisations or VET and labour
market policy makers. The Torino
Process proposes a corporate
approach to policy learning as a
working method and to policy
making as a field of action.
2
THE ETF HELPS TRANSITION AND
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TO HARNESS
THE POTENTIAL OF THEIR HUMAN
RESOURCES THROUGH THE REFORM OF
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND LABOUR
MARKET SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF
THE EU’S EXTERNAL RELATIONS POLICY.
www.etfliveandlearn.eu
Please recycle this magazine when
you finish with it.Cover Photos: ETF/EUP Images

3. The results of the first round of the
Torino Process will document:
+ ETF recommendations to the
European Commission for sector
programming and the project
cycle,
+ ETF interventions in the partner
countries supporting policy
making in VET and employment,
+ further capacity building
interventions, supporting policy
making, to be carried out directly
by the ETF or to be proposed to
the European Commission for
external assistance.
Additionally, in the second year, the
ETF will work on those policy areas
in need of urgent structural
assistance, as identified by the
Torino Process. This will take the
form of expertise communities who
will create, manage and share
knowledge with the respective
countries.
Exceptionally, in 2010, the Torino
Process will be carried out together
with a policy area examination in
education and business cooperation
which was requested by DG EAC.
This cooperation must be
immediately analysed considering
the high youth unemployment and
decreasing adult employment rates,
the lack of trust business shows
towards public education and
training, and differences in supply
and demand.
Instead of conclusions, the Torino
process will help the ETF to
understand country contexts better
and to manage them more
effectively. It will seek a win-win
situation for the ETF and its partner
countries, ultimately benefitting their
citizens, and enhancing the relevance
of EU interventions in the field.
Madlen Serban
ETF Director
Live&Learn 3

4. Live and Learn was in Brussels to speak to Jan Truszczyński, a Polish citizen, who has recently started work as the
European Commission’s new Director General of Education and Culture (DG EAC). What will be the new course for the
body that, with a staff of over 650 women and men and a budget of around H1,400 million, plays a leading role in
Europe’s education, training, culture, youth, citizenship, multilingualism and sport? And what will these changes mean
for the work of the ETF?
Mr Truszczyński joined DG Enlargement in 2007 just as the
new EU Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) was
being launched and he believes significant steps forward
have been made since that time.
“If I look back over the last several years, I can see good
progress on the education front and sometimes also in the
area of culture. The problems that were there in the
relationship between the former candidate countries and the
EU do exist to some extent between the EU and current
candidate countries, but these are the kind of issues that
accompany all relationships between partners. If I compare
IPA with the assistance the EU provided in the 1990s,
nowadays we are faster, nimbler and overall more efficient
and effective. The timeline between planning and the actual
disbursement of funds is shorter than it used to be. These are
all reasons to be pleased,” he said.
Some of the challenges facing neighbouring countries in
terms of human capital development are also to be found in
EU countries. However Mr Truszczyński identifies three key
differences: a weak capacity to design and implement policy
change; a lower level of economic development; and a bigger
and more complex mismatch between skills and the needs of
the labour market. “We need to use the financial instruments
Live&Learn4
“HELPING OUR NEIGHBOURS IS AN INVESTMENT
FOR US
“TAKING EUROPE’S EDUCATION AND
CULTURE TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL
An interview with Jan Truszczyński, new Director-General of
Education and Culture and chairman of the ETF Governing
Board
Photo:ETF/EUPImages

5. at our disposal to help neighbouring
countries to modernise their VET
systems and improve their ability to
forecast and plan ahead,” he says, “this
will allow them to better prepare their
education systems to respond to the
needs of their economies.”
“How you get on with your neighbours
matters to every country or regional
grouping; what makes the EU stand out
is the sheer volume of grants and
assistance that we offer our partners,”
he says, “we see this as an
investment.”
ETF work is unrivalled
In his new role, Mr Truszczyński is
looking forward to learning much more
about the work of the ETF.
Nevertheless his provisional verdict is
positive. “The ETF addresses what
needs to be addressed in terms of
changing how educational systems are
organised, analysing and assessing
labour markets and promoting
cooperation between the world of
education and business as well as
reducing the skills gap. I think its
priorities are well chosen, the ability to
draw on expertise is manifestly present,
there is a good working relationship
with CEDEFOP and the work of the ETF
in neighbouring countries is unrivalled in
Europe,” he says.
One area that Mr Truszczyński is keen
to examine when he becomes chair of
the ETF’s governing board is how well it
measures its own effectiveness. “With
every assistance mechanism you want
to make sure it really delivers and this is
best done through monitoring and
evaluation,” he says.
When asked whether the ETF could
contribute to promoting entrepreneurial
learning within the framework of the
EU’s 2020 strategy, Mr Truszczyński’s
reply is a resounding yes. “Where
neighbouring countries seek to achieve
similar goals to the EU, the ETF, with its
remit on business and education, labour
markets and VET, can probably do a lot
of good,” he says.
Mr Truszczyński adds that he is “not
convinced that the EU is such a paragon
of virtue that we can automatically act
as a role model for others.
Neighbouring countries will not stand
idly by as we try to modernise, but will
draw their own lessons and implement
change at a more decisive and faster
pace. It is here that the ETF - with its
expertise gained in Europe, its network
of contacts and its good relations with
the governments of neighbouring
countries - can step in and do more.”
Promoting democracy
“You have to be realistic about the
extent to which education and training
can bring stability and democracy; I
know of no country where the mere
provision of assistance has resulted in
the further anchoring of the values that
prevail in Europe. This depends to a
large extent on whether beneficiaries
are willing to invest their political capital
and energy in making sure the
assistance really benefits their society
and economy. In the desert, money
alone will not make lush greenery
appear,” he says.
Moving on to the theme of future
cooperation between education and
business, Mr Truszczyński says that
“there is a huge untapped potential
here. The entrepreneurial culture in
higher education has to be developed
more and there should be more
dialogue between business and
universities on the future needs of the
economy.”
Mr Truszczyński is looking forward to
preparing a new generation of projects,
one of the largest being ‘Youth on the
Move’, a programme targeting
education, youth policy and international
mobility. He would like above all to see
the new programmes “smoothly
launched and implemented” and to see
them gain acceptance from both
beneficiaries and Member States.
“My job is not the easiest in the
European Commission but it is not so
difficult either… education is a
fascinating field,” he concludes. ¢
Live&Learn 5
by Paul Rigg, ICE

6. More and more women are getting educated. In the European Union, 60% of university graduates are women and female
students routinely outperform males at secondary schools. But when it comes to using this education to get a good job,
the situation is very different. For a host of reasons, women are still finding it hard to turn their achievements in
education into tangible benefits on the labour market. No matter which yardstick you use –salaries, participation rates
or the number of women at the top of their profession –in most countries, women still lag considerably behind men.
The ETF brought over two hundred
women and men from around the world
to Turin to consider why this is so at an
international conference on Women and
Work on 7 – 8 March. Participants were
asked to pay special attention to three
aspects of gender equality in the
workplace; how women make the
transition from education to work, what
is needed for the full social inclusion of
women and what are the barriers
women face when they wish to set up
a business.
In its search for fresh ideas, the ETF
decided to use fresh tools to facilitate
the debate by harnessing the power of
social media. Last January saw the
launch of an online forum looking at
global women’s issues to prepare for
the conference
(http://womenandwork.ning.com/).
Moderated by social media specialist
Silvia Cambie, it has continued to attract
debate and comment in the months
since the event took place and currently
has a total of 83 members.
Twenty members of the forum, many of
whom actively blog on women’s issues
in their countries of origin, attended the
first day of the Women and Work event.
They discussed why women do not
always get a fair deal in the workplace
and hammered out a list of
recommendations on how to improve
the situation. As the day progressed,
they kept a wider online audience in
touch by blogging and tweeting as they
went along. The bloggers also produced
three short videos summarising their
Live&Learn6
“CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
“
STILL FAR FROM EQUALITY FOR
WOMEN AT WORK
ETF uses social media to facilitate women’s day event
Photo:ETF/A.Ramella

7. recommendations which were shown to
policy makers and representatives of
NGOs on the second day of the
conference and which are still available
on YouTube.
The factors that prevent women from
achieving parity with men in the
workplace are many and varied,
according to the bloggers, and start
operating from very early on. Many
young people work as volunteers and
trainees as a way of gaining work
experience. “I’ve noticed that male
trainees are given more substantial
and interesting tasks than young
women who are given mainly
communications and administrative
tasks,” said Lebanese blogger Paola
Salwan, “after these first jobs, men
can more easily find a substantial
position, while women will be hired as
assistants, no matter how many
degrees they have.”
The fact that women have children, and
will need time off when they do, can
make employers less willing to take on
young women in the first place. “Leaving
university comes at a time when women
may also want to start a family,” said
Italian student Alice Averone, “women
are always asked by employers about
their personal lives and their future plans
in a way that men never are.”
Sometimes women’s attitudes can be
part of the problem; many suffer from
low self-esteem and do not aim high
enough in the job market. “Women tend
to self-select by thinking that they are
not capable of certain jobs,” said French
student Florie Lefevbre.
Much can be done to give women a
fairer deal at work according to the
bloggers but improving the situation
calls for the involvement of many
different actors. Their
recommendations were aimed at policy
makers, educators, employers, the
media and individuals and ranged from
improving childcare to encouraging
mentoring schemes for professional
women or ensuring would-be
entrepreneurs get access to capital and
know-how.
Helping to make this a reality is up to all
of us – both women and men – said
Viviane Reding, European
Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental
Rights and Citizenship, in her keynote
speech to the conference. It is also up
to all of us to ensure that gender issues
do not get swept aside in these times
of economic crisis. “This is not only
because accepting anything less than
equal rights for half of the world’s
population is morally indefensible but
also because leaving the tremendous
potential of women underexploited is
something we simply cannot afford,”
she said. ¢
Live&Learn 7
Photos:ETF/A.Ramella
Jung Chang
Discussions at the conference were strongly inspired by the Chinese
best-selling author Jung Chang, who presented her personnel experience
of a life in education under suppression in China. Jung Chang encouraged
all governments to ensure free and accessible education for all.
Jung Chang, best know for her family autobiography, Wild Swans, stated in
her keynote speech to conference delegates that "free and open education
with equal rights for men and women is a fundamental right".
by Rebecca Warden, ICE

8. Live&Learn8
How social media can empower
women
Social media can empower women, according to
Silvia Cambie, director of Chanda Communications
and the driving force behind the Women and Work
online forum. It can do this by giving women a safe
place to meet and share problems. It can also
provide a platform for campaigning and for attracting
the attention of opinion leaders she says. “The more
conservative a society is, the better organised and
the more committed you will find the women are,”
says Cambie, “Saudi Arabia has some great women
bloggers.”
Social media can contribute to women’s professional
advancement by facilitating international networks
and mentoring. “Women definitely need to join a
structure - we are still a minority in the labour market
so a structure helps you deal with the problems that
minorities have,” says Cambie, “it acts as a kind of
scaffolding throughout your career.”
But while women are very good at social networking,
they are often less adept when it comes to using
networks to advance their careers. “Women make
the mistake of thinking that the corporate world is a
meritocracy and it isn’t. They think if we focus on the
task in hand and do it well, we will be noticed and
that is not always the case,” says Cambie, “men are
better at focusing on the power games and the
politics that go with the corporate dynamic.”
Photos:ETF/A.Ramella

9. Live&Learn 9
FIND OUT MORE:
ETF “Women and Work”
Conference - Turin - March
2010 - part 1 -
http://bit.ly/9yF9JR
ETF “Women and Work”
Conference - Turin - March
2010 - part 2 -
http://bit.ly/d4AoCW
ETF “Women and Work”
Conference - Turin - March
2010 – part 3 -
http://bit.ly/azKEme

10. Cooperation with the world of work is one of the most universally agreed needs in education. And yet, it is also one of
the hardest to satisfy. For decades, the two parties that ought to collaborate to prepare people for life and a career
have been kept apart by mutual suspicion. Employers accuse the education sector of not keeping pace with
developments in the real world. Schools argue that education is more than just a production line for workers.
Both have a point. But can we not find
some middle ground? Can cooperation
be implemented effectively to the
satisfaction of all stakeholders involved?
The European Training Foundation is
joining the ranks of organisations that
have contributed to the ongoing debate
by preparing a study that maps the
current status of cooperation among
business and education in its partner
countries. From this, it hopes to distil
recommendations that can take such
cooperation a step forward.
Finding common vocabulary
A launch event for the study in Turin on
29 and 30 March suggested that one
important reason why it is difficult to
get structured cooperation off the
ground is that the worlds of education
and work are just so different.
“Although much progress has been
made in recent years, we still do not
talk the same language,” said Olga
Oleynikova, Vice-President of the
International Vocational Education and
Training Organisation.
She was backed up by Mohamed Slassi
Sennou, Vice-President of the
Moroccan General Federation of
Enterprises, who said that the
suggestion that cooperation was a
matter of getting the two parties to sit
at the same table is rather
oversimplified.
“However much the worlds of business
and education depend on each other,
they are both extremely different. And
not only that – each of the two is
extremely diverse in itself,” he said.
This makes speaking the same
language difficult and some might
suggest that finding a common
vocabulary, rather than speaking the
same language, should be the aim of
any efforts to bring education and
business closer together.
Speaking from a policy-making
perspective, Sjur Bergan of the Council
of Europe said that “education must
take in the needs of the market but
cannot be entirely market-led. While
education must improve employability it
should also prepare for democratic
citizenship and promote personal
development.”
Intermediary role
These things do not necessarily
contradict each other. But despite
plenty of European experience
proving the opposite there remains a
stubborn fear among many
educationalists that employers’
influence on curricula will degrade
these to mere preparation for
employment. And there remains a
stubborn prejudice among many
employers that the education sector
has no real desire to meet current
labour market needs. This deadlock
calls for an intermediary to play a role
Live&Learn10
“FINDING COMMON DENOMINATORS MAY NOT
BE AN EASY TASK
“
PLOTTING A BETTER COURSE
ETF starts mapping education and business cooperation

11. in facilitating discussions between
what should be natural partners.
In countries that have found successful
formulae for forging the qualities of
industry and education into stronger
matter, this lead role has often been
taken by the authorities. A practical
example from Spain showed how
contracts between all parties involved
could oblige partners to cooperate while
leaving them sufficient independence to
creatively and flexibly steer their own
course.
Countries following a dual system where
internships take a prominent role in
regular education have found that
making students commute between
education and work benefits all: the
students, their schools, their teachers
and companies. But in dual system
countries, once again it is the authorities
who play a leading role as mediators
between education and business.
This led a number of participants at the
launch event to conclude that regulation
and legislation are needed in order to
make cooperation work. While this
seems applicable – at least for the
moment – in countries that have a
history of strong central command,
such as those that have emerged from
the former Soviet Union, in other
regions a key factor is the extent to
which employers are organised. Where
small and medium-sized enterprises are
responsible for the bulk of economic
activity but are not able to negotiate
with one voice, collaborating with
employers can be extremely difficult.
Good practice
In many of the ETF’s partner countries,
education and business cooperation is
still in its infancy and repeated calls
were therefore made to include ample
good practice in the final documents.
This can be found in education sectors
that have traditionally had strong links
with their counterparts in the world of
work, such as tourism, agriculture,
medicine and engineering.
ETF director Madlen Serban confirmed
that good practice must be shown in
the study, but also pointed out that its
main perspective will look to the future.
“This means that there may not always
be good practice to draw from,” she said.
The study is likely to show diversity
more than anything else and, according
to the ETF’s Ulrike Damyanovic, the key
challenge will be to synthesise
individual country reports due this
summer into four regional studies in the
autumn and a cross-country overview
that is scheduled for publication in early
2011.
“We are sure to encounter incredible
diversity and finding common
denominators may not be an easy
task,” she said.
The project has been designed so as to
allow each country to write its own
overview, with the ETF providing a
critical review of these. The final
product can then be fed back to each
country to serve as a basis for
improvements.
The country reports will be drawn up
with the help of focus groups
representing as broad an array of
stakeholders as possible.
“Partnership is key in this exercise,”
said Madlen Serban, also replying to the
many calls for government regulation.
“Such partnership cannot be bought
with legislation,” she said, “what is
needed is a change of culture and
mindset. This can only be achieved if all
stakeholders work together and
acknowledge the urgency of the
matter.” ¢
Live&Learn 11
by Ard Jongsma, ICE
Photo:uabbrandworks

12. A major review of Lebanese vocational education is underway in two major ETF initiatives co-funded by the Italian
Trust Fund.
The Torino Process – a system-wide
analysis of Technical Vocational
Education and Training (TVET) in
Lebanon – will improve understanding
of the efficiency of the sector and help
frame better policies for the future.
The Education and Business Study will
analyse the connections between
training institutes and enterprises and
see where policy changes can improve
these links.
Backed by the Minister of Education
and Higher Education (MoEHE), the
studies are being led by Dr Soubhi Abou
Chahine, Torino Process Co-ordinator
for Lebanon.
A Professor of Communication and
Electronics at the Beirut Arab
University, Dr Abou Chahine is also a
member of the Higher Education
Committee and Advisor to the
Minister.
Dr Abou Chahine, who began working
with the ETF in late March, says the
intensive process will be rolled out in
the coming months with initial reports
back to the MoEHE expected within a
few months.
The Education and Business Study will
look at current practice in both TVET and
higher education sectors in Lebanon.
Two focus groups, made up of between
six and ten experts drawn from the
sectors, will carry out a review of how
closely business and education work
together, what impact this has on
training and how well qualifications
match the needs of the Lebanese
labour market.
“It is a question of collecting and
analysing the data and we expect to
have a draft report ready by the end of
June,” Dr Abou Chahine told Live and
Learn.
Live&Learn12
COUNTRY FOCUS: LEBANON
LEBANON BEGINS TORINO
PROCESS AND EDUCATION
AND BUSINESS STUDY
p
Dr Abou Chahine: lebanon has a
strong history of TVET
Photos:ETF/A.Ramella

13. The Torino Process is a bigger project.
Designed as a rolling review of policies
and systems to be conducted in
two-year cycles, the idea is that it
eventually becomes integrated into the
self-assessment practices of the TVET
system.
Lebanon has a strong tradition of TVET
and its network of schools has survived
war and political instability.
Currently there are 364 TVET schools in
the country, 70% of which are private.
Some 50,000 students are studying in
the private sector and 44,000 in public
institutions.
The system teaches 135 specialities
with an emphasis on business,
computing, accountancy and business
administration, although industrial
disciplines such as electronics and
mechanics and service, health sector
education and social services are also
taught.
Gathering the data for the Torino
Process will be a longer process but Dr
Abou Chahine expects the raw figures
to be ready by the autumn.
By working with all stakeholders – in
TVET and across the MoEHE strategic
sectors in general education and higher
education, as well as with non-profit
organizations, the Association of
Lebanese Industrialists and unions – a
detailed picture of the existing structure
of TVET, its physical assets, equipment,
student and teacher numbers and
policies, will be produced.
Entrepreneurship education – the ETF is
currently working on this subject with
the general and higher education
sectors in Lebanon – is not specifically
part of the TVET review, but Dr Abou
Chahine is keen to include it within his
work.
“It makes sense to look at ways of
incorporating entrepreneurship
education into the TVET system as
professional education students are
closer to this than most,” Dr Abou
Chahine said.
Aziz Jaouani, the ETF's Country Manager
for Lebanon, said: "Entrepreneurship
education is a key competence. We are
keen to inject this mindset into the
vocational sector too." ¢
Live&Learn 13
by Nick Holdsworth, ICE
FIND OUT MORE
Torino Process -
http://www.etf.europa.eu/
web.nsf/pages/Torino_Process_
EN?OpenDocument
Photos:phool4XC
Photos:deanna

14. Live&Learn14
After years of conflict, the re-emergence of relative political stability in Lebanon following the 2008 Doha agreement
between rival factions and the election of a coalition government in November 2009 presents the EU with an
opportunity to engage in a key country of the Mediterranean region.
The ETF has been fast to respond and is:
+ working with the Lebanese Ministry
of Education and Higher Education
(MEHE) to design a national
qualification framework (NQF);
+ acting to incorporate
entrepreneurship as a key
competence within the curriculum
across general, vocational & technical
and tertiary education;
+ supporting the MEHE on career
guidance counselling;
+ enhancing the involvement of the
country in ETF regional projects such
as the Euro-Mediterranean Charter
for Enterprise and the development
of e-learning within the VET system
and lifelong learning;
+ and launching the Torino Process and
education and business study which
will analyse the efficiency of VET
systems and foster evidence-based
policy making.
“It’s still early days but the process is
underway”, says ETF Country Manager
for Lebanon Aziz Jaouani.
Moroccan-born, Aziz has wide
experience of working both within the
VET sector and in business. That is of
particular use in Lebanon where
business has continued to thrive
despite the hardships of war.
“The Lebanese have a strong culture of
enterprise. It is now our job to formalise
this within the education system,” Aziz
says.
With a political system that divides
ministerial and sector responsibilities
along religious and factional lines, it is
not always an easy process but one
which enjoys the full support of the
Lebanese Ministry of Education.
Coordinating Committees have been
set up by ministerial decree for the
NQF and entrepreneurship education,
with activities and action plans agreed
and capacity building started. ETF
support is provided on the mapping of
Lebanese qualifications, while plans
for study visits to France for NQF
partners in July and another EU
country for the entrepreneurship
education group in September are
being made. Work has also started on
familiarising stakeholders in Lebanon
with the Torino Process and the
education and business study through a
focus group. ¢
p
The Lebanese have a strong
culture of enterprise by Nick Holdsworth, ICE
PEACE ACCORDS AND
POLITICAL STABILITY OFFER ETF
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY IN
LEBANON
COUNTRY FOCUS: LEBANON

15. Abdelaziz Jaouani, the ETF’s Country Manager for Lebanon, brings a wealth of experience in education, training,
business and entrepreneurship to his job.
A trained engineer who specialised in
textiles and clothing at Lyons’ Higher
School of Textile Industries in France, he
also has an MSc in physics and
chemistry from Mohammed V University
in Oujda in his native Morocco.
Aziz – as he is known – has worked as a
vocational institute teacher and trainer,
project manager, policy advisor and has
been in charge of projects to set up five
textile training institutes, a higher
education institute and a number of
specialist training centres in Morocco.
The experience gained there laid the
foundations for a move away from
education and into business, when for
six years between 2000 and 2006 Aziz
was co-owner and co-manager of
Novacote, a Casablanca-based textiles
company that produced knitted
women’s and children’s pullovers for
export.
With an annual turnover of 1.5 million
and 160 employees, Aziz’s
responsibilities included staff
recruitment, training and wage policy.
It was the sort of hands-on experience
in business that is invaluable now in his
work with the ETF – which he joined as
a human capital development specialist
in September 2007 – where
encouraging entrepreneurial activity in
partner countries is a key priority
alongside core training, lifelong learning
and labour market reform policies.
Aziz, who was also project manager on a
H75 million EU MEDA II project on
supporting human capital development
in Morocco’s textile, tourism and ICT
sectors during his time with the textile
firm, says his experience of both
business and training gives him the
practical experience to work with a wide
range of stakeholders in ETF projects.
“I have experience both of the supply
and demand side of the labour market,
which helps me understand the point of
view of all stakeholders, negotiate with
employers and deal with ministries of
education and labour,” he says. ¢
Live&Learn 15
TEXTILE BACKGROUND
KNITS TOGETHER
EDUCATION AND
BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
Photo:ETF/A.Ramella
by Nick Holdsworth, ICE

16. A new ETF project is looking at how to develop regional qualifications for the building and tourism trades in Egypt,
Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.
A builder from Cairo is hoping to find a
better job by moving to Amman in
Jordan. A Tunisian hotel receptionist is
aiming to find work in a five-star hotel in
Marrakesh in Morocco. Just imagine
how much easier things could be for
these individuals and for their future
employers if they could only take their
qualifications with them.
The need for regional qualifications -
something which could act as a kind of
professional passport for people across
four countries of the Mediterranean - is
the driving force behind a new ETF
project which began with a launch
event in Tunis in December 2009.
The six-year initiative will facilitate the
development of internationally
recognised qualifications in sectors
which are seen as priorities for the
region, starting with the sectors of
tourism and construction. “We are
trying to benchmark qualifications, see
if they are comparable and see if we
can move towards a common
understanding of what a regional
qualification could look like,” said Eva
Jimeno Sicilia, the ETF’s Deputy Head
of Operations for ENP South.
NQFs
Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia
have already begun developing national
qualifications frameworks (NQFs) over
the past five years with the help of the
ETF. The new regional project will run in
Live&Learn16
“MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES AIM FOR REGIONAL
QUALIFICATIONS FOR TOURISM AND CONSTRUCTION
“
REGIONAL APPROACH CAN
DELIVER BIG BENEFITS
How to manage the Mediterranean labour market together
Photos:ETF

17. parallel and will feed into the national
debate. “The important thing is to work
with the NQF so that it isn’t just a way
of recognising qualifications in a given
country, but can also be used as a tool
for consensually managing the region’s
labour market,” Mongi Bédoui,
Tunisia’s Secretary of State for
Vocational Training, told the meeting in
Tunis.
The project will act as a forum for
structured exchange on topics of
interest to be defined by the countries
themselves. Future activities will
include seminars, workshops, study
visits and peer reviews as needed. In
this process, it is the representatives of
industry who will take the lead.
Tourism industry
Employers as well as politicians see the
need for this kind of initiative and hope
it could upgrade workers’ skills and help
them develop new ones. “Tourism is a
very labour intensive industry and the
tastes of tourists are changing – we
now need to talk about new
technology, health and eco-tourism for
instance – so the need for
competences is both varied and
urgent,” said Loïc Gogue,
representative of the Moroccan
National Tourism Federation.
The Arab Contractors Group works in
23 countries as well as its native Egypt.
“When we work abroad we use local
workers for less important jobs, but we
tend to send the management team
from Egypt,” said Anis Zakhary, Advisor
to the Chairman, “but it is hard to find
these very qualified people.” He
believes the barriers to workers
becoming more internationally mobile
are often cultural – such as being
unable to speak the language - rather
than the lack of technical skills.
The two days in Tunis launched the
debate on how to proceed. Whether to
create new qualifications for the two
sectors or concentrate on
benchmarking existing ones was a big
issue. People also discussed whether
the pilot should target traditional jobs or
some of the newly emerging ones.
What became clear was that
employers’ federations in countries
such as Egypt and Morocco have
already done a lot of work on
occupational standards and this can
provide useful building blocks for the
new initiative.
Mutual trust
What was also clear was that
participants could see significant gains
in adopting a regional approach. It could
facilitate mutual learning and build
mutual trust between industry and
education stakeholders and between
countries they concluded. “It could
allow us to become a kind of
observatory on the region,” said Fatma
Bennour of the Federation of Tunisian
Hotels, “we can build a common
framework and then allow individual
countries to fill in the rest according to
their specifities.” It could also facilitate
the mobility of workers thereby
satisfying the needs of labour markets
and relieving demographic pressures.
“If we work together, it will be easier to
exploit the relative strengths of
different countries and we will be able
to achieve more with less,” said Filippo
del Ninno of the ETF. ¢
Live&Learn 17
FIND OUT MORE:
EQF -
http://ec.europa.eu/education/
lifelong-learning-policy/
doc44_en.htm
Two days in Tunis launched
debate on qualifications
q
Why regional qualifications?
People have always migrated in search of a better life, but until recently
qualifications have remained a strictly domestic affair, losing their currency
once people venture abroad. Now globalisation and the corresponding
increase in mobility of workers have led to moves to link up qualifications
systems and frameworks and make them understandable, and therefore
useable, across borders.
The European Qualifications Framework, adopted in 2008, is the prime
example, but parallel developments are underway in Asia and the Gulf.
“Where labour markets are globalised so workers’ competences need to
be too,” said Jean-Marc Castejon, team leader of the ETF’s regional
qualifications project. Politicians in the Mediterranean region are all too
aware of this. November 2008’s meeting of EuroMed ministers of labour
and employment in Marrakesh called for more regional cooperation on
qualifications and this project is a response to that request.
by Rebecca Warden, ICE
Photos:ETF

18. Live&Learn18
Migration is on the increase in the
Republic of Moldova; during 1999 just
under 100,000 people left the country
to work abroad, but by 2005, the total
had shot up to just under 400,000.
Many may wish to come home after a
few years and a new European
Training Foundation project is aiming
to smooth their path to skills
recognition when they do.
As part of its contribution to the
Mobility Partnership between the
Republic of Moldova and the European
Union, the ETF is working to help these
returning migrants get the skills they
have acquired abroad recognised when
they return home - for their own benefit
and for the benefit of the Moldovan
economy as a whole.
For skills to be useful, they have to be
easily understood by employers and
measurable against national standards.
But if people learn these skills in
another country or in another context
outside of formal education – such as
through work or personal experience or
both - then recognising those skills
becomes a much more complex affair.
During 2009, the ETF has been tackling
this question in two ways. First it has
been developing a methodology for
assessing the competences of adult
workers against European occupational
profiles – that is an agreed set of skills
needed to do a specific job. In order to
do so, the ETF has drawn on its recent
experience in Egypt and has adapted its
approach to the Moldovan context.
Second, it has started working on a
methodology for recognising prior
learning – learning which has usually
been acquired informally either at home
or abroad. Getting this far has only been
possible with the involvement of, and
active contributions from, a wide range
of stakeholders from education, the
ministries and industry.
2010 will see the ETF develop more
occupational standards with the help of
social partners and relevant national
institutions (the reference group). The
resulting methodologies will then be
used in pilot testing of adult workers
“REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA SUPPORTS RETURNING
MIGRANTS
“MOOTHING SKILLS
RECOGNITION FOR PEOPLE
WHO WISH TO COME HOME
Work on skills contributes to Mobility Partnership
Photo:ETF

19. and returning migrants’ competence,
targeting agriculture and construction –
two key sectors of the Moldovan
economy.
This operational work will be
complemented by a second focus on
policy development, namely designing a
system for validating prior learning hand
in hand with the Moldovan Government,
employers and trades unionists as well
as incorporating the results of the work
on occupational profiles into Moldova’s
adult learning system.
A special policy dialogue group,
comprising representatives from the
Ministry of Labour, Social Protection
and Family, the National Employment
Agency, the Ministry of Education and
employers’ associations and trades
unions, will tackle the issue of
certification. The idea is to look for
ways of certification which are flexible
enough to encompass non-formal and
informal learning. Stakeholders will also
discuss the related issues of funding,
quality assurance and which
institutional arrangements will be
needed to oversee this new practice.
Making skills recognised, visible and
portable should benefit several groups
of people – returning migrants whose
skills will be valued and people aiming
to migrate as making the move with
certified skills should encourage them
to opt for legal forms of migration and
improve their situation while abroad. It
will also benefit the Republic of
Moldova as a whole by making its
labour market more attractive and
transparent. ¢
Live&Learn 19
by Cristiana Burzio, ETF
Photo:byUSACEEuropeDistrict
What is the Mobility Partnership?
The work of the ETF forms part of a wider EU project – Strengthening
Moldova’s capacity to manage labour and return migration – which is
currently being coordinated by the Swedish Public Employment Service. All
this is taking place under the Mobility Partnership, a new instrument for the
joint management of migratory flows which was signed by the Moldovan
Government and the European Union in June 2008.
The Mobility Partnership aims to promote practical improvements which
will allow the EU and its partner country to manage migration in a more
co-ordinated and responsible fashion. It is striving to provide a more
efficient framework for legal migration and for the reintegration of returning
migrants by tackling issues such as social protection, border management,
remittances and what information is provided to potential and returning
migrants. When Moldovan and EC officials and ETF Director Madlen
Serban attended a meeting in Brussels last November, they drew some
very positive conclusions about the effectiveness of this approach to date.
So much so that plans are now afoot to launch a similar partnership with
Georgia.

20. Links between research and policy making in the Western Balkans have yielded some impressive results in recent
years. Reforms are in progress, but more research evidence is needed to inform policies and links between research
analysis centres and the policy world need to be developed. Recent efforts to promote ETF-commissioned research
results to a political audience may hold clues to how such links can be strengthened.
Information and policy go hand in hand.
Information is needed to feed policy
development, to monitor policy
implementation and to evaluate the
effect of policies. But in the short term,
information costs both money and time.
This can jeopardise its popularity among
policy makers who work with stringent
budgets and relatively short political
mandates.
“The Western Balkans have
experienced deep crisis and
post-conflict trauma where the logic of
first planning and then implementing
evidence-based policies in education
has been displaced by the need to
tackle urgent issues,” according to Lida
Kita, who works in the ETF Operations
Department on projects related to the
Western Balkans.
“Most policy making is done in a very
disorderly, ad hoc and often highly
improvised way. Countries often do not
know to what extent the policies they
implement achieve their objectives and
if they do know that objectives were
not reached, they lack the evidence to
explain why,” she says.
In other parts of the world this may be
because of a lack of research capacity
but not so in the Western Balkans
where the biggest hurdle is the weak
link between research centres and the
policy world.
The ETF helps to mobilise local
research capacity and link it to policy
making. In the Western Balkans, a
recent flagship example of this has
been its work in promoting inclusive
education. This project used local
research capacity in all countries
involved, overseen by the
Belgrade-based Centre for Education
Policy.
One of its focal areas was teachers’
competences for inclusive education.
The ETF has now used its networks
Live&Learn20
“THE FACT THAT WE’RE HERE TELLS US THAT POLITICIANS
ARE AWARE THAT WE SHOULD BE INVOLVED
“MAKING POLICY AS GOOD AS
ITS WORD
ETF promotes evidence-based policy making in the
Western Balkans
Photo:ETF/A.Ramella

21. and lobbying force to promote a
better link with policy making in
precisely this field, most recently by
presenting the results of the study to
a regional ministerial conference on
teachers’ transversal competences in
Belgrade on 25 and 26 January.
The meeting revealed many signs
that the political will to involve the
research community more closely in
policy making is there.
“At least the fact that we’re here
tells us that politicians are aware that
we should be involved,” said Natasha
Pantic of the Centre for Education
Policy. She had been invited as a
local representative of the ETF
project.
But listening to researchers is one
thing. Heeding their advice is a
different thing altogether and more
often than not, new policies are
introduced on the fly because an
urgent need arises and neither time
nor money is available to research
different options. Ms Pantic,
however, does not believe politicians
alone are at fault.
“Many researchers work in isolation
and without much awareness of
current agendas. Also, they typically
do not approach research from an
interdisciplinary angle, while this is
quite badly needed. In that respect
research from NGOs often better
matches current policy making.”
Borèo Aleksov of the Ministry of
Education and Sciences in the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has
another reason why it can be tricky for
politicians to consult traditional research
communities.
“Much of the research we need directly
affects the sector in which the
researchers that carry it out operate.
When we looked at ways of depoliticising
the teaching profession, all we received
from the academic community was
rubbish. In the end, the entire reform was
developed within the ministry.”
While other authorities have had more
success with involving the research
community, incidental examples of
good practice are no guarantee that the
use of evidence in policy making will
yield the desired results, according to
Pawel Zgaga, director of the Centre for
Educational Policy Studies at the
University of Ljubljana.
“In most countries you can see good
examples of research-based policy
development. But more often than not,
the proposed policies are being blocked
in parliament. So what you get is that
policy planning is OK, but the
implementation is thwarted because
highly specialist issues are decided on
by relatively lay people in national
parliaments.”
So what does Mr Zgaga think is needed?
“Historical luck,” he laughs, before
continuing on a more serious note.
“We need time. When the same
experts can work on the same issues
for some time you can see results.”
“Yet, in the real world there will always
be certain policy processes that won’t
follow a rational model,” says Lida Kita.
“Solutions may precede problem
definition and important players may
have good reasons for lobbying
solutions that are unrelated to declared
strategic policy outcomes. External
factors or stakeholders may also
impose policy directions.”
In spite of that simple fact of political
life, the ETF will continue to strive to
support research communities in the
Western Balkans to better prepare
them for a more proactive role in policy
making.
According to Lida Kita, this means
generating focus because there is a
clear tendency to continually realign
both research and policy to different
donors’ priorities.
“We also need more formal
mechanisms to help research
communities to interact with
authorities. And because the topics
discussed are so specialist, another
priority in the immediate future will be
to link these communities with
international research networks.
Regional cooperation gives them
strength in numbers, better access to
information, more visibility, and more
credibility for informed policies by
governments and donors.” ¢
Live&Learn 21
by Ard Jongsma, ICE
Photos:ETF/A.Ramella
Natasha Pantic: researchers
should not work in isolation
q
Pawel Zgaga: Proposed policies
are being blocked in parliament
q

22. Stephen Murgatroyd does not suffer
fools gladly.
With more than 30 years’ experience at
the top in universities in Britain, Canada
and Dubai, a couple of dozen books to
his credit and nearly twenty years
running a communications consultancy,
his blunt assessment of schools is that
they are “failing organisations” run by a
demoralised profession that has
become little more than an army of
target-obsessed box tickers.
Witnessing a presentation by Dr
Murgatroyd, who delights in the title of
Chief Scout of Murgatroyd
Communications and Consulting of
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada - other titles
when the firm was set up in 1992 included
Chief Explorer, Outfitter and Cartographer
– is a lesson in kinetic energy.
When the 59-year-old ETF consultant
presented his paper on ‘Wicked
problems and the work of the school’ at
an early November symposium at Villa
Gualino, Turin – one of nine that will be
published in a special edition of the
European Journal of Education, guest
edited by the ETF in June 2010 – it was
more science museum open day than
international one-day conference.
Ignoring the standard room setting of a
large desk with ranks of chairs in front
and a screen behind, Dr Murgatroyd
strode out to the front of the desks and,
bouncing with enthusiasm for his topic,
launched into a brief survey of Alberta’s
social and economic geography.
Against a map of the province showing
major centres of population, natural
resources and statistics on education
and employment, he argued that most
educational policy remains stuck in the
20th
century and fails to address what
will be needed two generations hence
in the second half of the 21st
century.
“Schools can be seen as permanently
failing organisations that never achieve
the outcomes expected, being pulled in
so many different directions by
employers, parents, publishers,
pressure groups, universities,
government, health services, teachers
and unions,” he says.
“We need to re-think teacher education
and professional development. We
need to find ways to substantially
enhance student engagement.”
One way is to stop teaching subjects,
give back autonomy and responsibility
to teachers and, to borrow a concept
from the world of design – work with
wicked problems that encourage
teamwork, inclusiveness and critical
thinking across disciplines.
Wicked problems are those that “tend
to have tentacles” – the further one
goes into them the more complex they
become.
He illustrates this by reference to real
issues put before school students in
Canada and Britain.
In Canada a class was asked to work
out ways to permanently reduce water
consumption in their community by
20%. Using a real life problem that
went beyond the school walls and that
obliged them to use different disciplines
– environmental science, geography,
Live&Learn22
“ONLY BY SEEING SCHOOLS AS ‘FAILING ORGANISATIONS’
CAN MEANINGFUL CHANGE BEGIN
“
WICKED PROBLEMS AND THE
WORK OF THE SCHOOL
Advisor to Canadian provincial education minister thinks
outside the box
Photo:ETF/A.Ramella

23. maths, communication skills – gave a
challenge and focus to the students.
In Britain at a Royal Society of Arts
school in Cheshire students were asked
to find ways to reduce loneliness faced
by elderly people in their community.
It is these sorts of complex problems
that today’s young people will have to
grapple with in their adult lives, Dr
Murgatroyd argues.
Talking to Live & Learn after giving his
presentation, he expanded on his
philosophy.
When in 1992 he set up the world’s
first online MBA programme for the
Athabasca University - Canada’s
leading distance learning institution –
the internet as we know it today did
not exist. That did not stop him
connecting distant groups of students
via computer-based seminars where
the first assignment was to look at four
sets of company accounts and explain
why you would invest in them. And
that was before the students had
received a single lecture on business
economics.
Only by engaging students in real life
problems can thorny issues such as the
high drop-out rates in education for post
16 year olds in Alberta, be tackled, Dr
Murgatroyd believes.
The approach is also useful for
developing innovative and
entrepreneurial thinking – a key issue in
a country where 92% of businesses are
SMEs and 60% of these will change
hands or close down within the next
four years as their current owners grow
older.
As an advisor to David Hancock,
Alberta’s progressive Minister of
Education, Dr Murgatroyd believes he
has a unique window of opportunity to
influence the province’s educational
landscape for the next decade or more.
Under an agreement with teacher
unions that stipulated no collective
bargaining until 2011 in return for filling
a pensions gap, the education minister
has the opportunity to make some
radical changes.
“We have to take a futurist perspective
and make changes now that will benefit
the next couple of generations,”
Dr Murgatroyd says.
And about those job titles when he set
his firm up? People always ask about
that, he says with a smile.
Chief Scout is the managing director
who goes out drumming up work; Chief
Explorer works on developing concepts;
the Outfitter is the operations manager
and the Cartographer maps out
company strategy.
Simple really. ¢
Live&Learn 23
Brief Profile of Alain Michel, chair of the editorial board
of the European Journal of Education
A leading educational researcher, policy advisor and thinker, Alain Michel,
the Paris-based chair of the editorial board of the European Journal of
Education is looking forward to the ETF special issue due out in June 2010.
The nine papers by ETF experts and consultants on human capital
development – education for change, sustainability and social gains will be
the first time the peer-reviewed, research-based journal has been given
over entirely to writers from one institution.
The papers mix studies drawing on ETF experience and practice in partner
countries and more theoretical papers on how teaching approaches can
influence change.
“The main idea of the special issue is how the ETF can both contribute to
improving human and social capital and at the same time sustainable
development,” Mr Michel says.
by Nick Holdsworth, ICE
FIND OUT MORE:
The Murgatroyd Blog -
http://themurgatroydblog.
blogspot.com/
Photo:ETF/S.Murgatroyd
Stephen Murgatroyd: Something
wicked this way comes
q

24. Live&Learn24
Entrepreneurial education is increasingly a part of lifelong learning plans in European Union partner countries as key
stakeholders in the public and private sector face the challenge of economic and social change.
An impressive range of projects,
initiatives, programmes and policies
being implemented in countries of
South Eastern Europe, Turkey and the
Mediterranean region suggest that EU
plans to create a strong and flexible
knowledge society in the coming
decades already have foundations
beyond its borders.
A two-day high level reflection panel on
entrepreneurship education jointly
hosted by the European Training
Foundation (ETF), the European
Commission (EC) and the Croatian
government in Zagreb mid-March,
brought together leading policy makers,
government officials and educationalists
from 11 non-EU member states to
share experience, promote cooperation
and plan for the future.
With Europe still reeling from its worst
economic recession in 70 years and
growing global competition from
emerging economies such as India and
China bringing new challenges, the
pressure to create an enterprise culture
has never been greater, participants
agreed.
Peter Baur, Deputy Head of Unit in the
Commission’s DG Education and
Culture, underlined the importance of a
meeting that followed four similar
panels last year involving EU member
countries.
“It is essential to open up education
and training to other countries and to
encourage cooperation. It is extremely
important to share good practice and
policies. Our problems are similar; it is
critical to see if we can find common
solutions,” Mr Baur said during the
meeting held at Zagreb’s Dubrovnik
Hotel.
Equal footing
Marko Curavic, Hhead of Uunit at, DG
Enterprise and Industry, stressed the
key position of entrepreneurship
education within the EC’s strategic
vision for improving economic
competitiveness.
“We don’t see any difference between
[EU member states and] the countries
here. It is a learning process that we are
participating in on an equal footing,” he
said.
That message was underlined by ETF
Ddirector Madlen Serban who praised
the work being done in Croatia – where
entrepreneurship learning has been a
key feature of the education system for
the past decade.
Croatia was a founding partner in the
Zagreb-based South East European
Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning,
which brings together leading
stakeholders in the field from Albania,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the
former Yugoslav Republic Macedonia,
Kosovo (as defined under UNSCR
1244), Serbia and Turkey.
Participants in the panel, which was
opened by Croatia’s education minister
and heard a keynote address from
Tajana Sapic Kesic, State Secretary at
the Ministry of Economy, Labour and
Entrepreneurship, identified key areas
where networking and cooperation
could help ensure better and more
sustainable policies and implementation
of entrepreneurship education.
Examples of best practice included
Tunisia, where since 2005 the
University of Sfax has been introducing
an institution-wide policy of
entrepreneurial education that
integrates the principle into all study
programmes through purpose-built
teaching modules.
“ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION REQUIRES A NATIONAL
VISION WITH STRONG LEADERSHIP
“
ETF PARTNER COUNTRIES
DEMONSTRATE ENTERPRISE CULTURE
High level panel discussion on entrepreneurship education
hosted in Zagreb

25. Live&Learn 25
Coordinated via an Entrepreneurship
and Placement University Centre,
(known locally by its French name the
Centre Universitaire d’Insertion et
d’Essaimage de Sfax) the university’s
mission to make its graduates more
employable and promote an enterprise
culture and validation of research into
the area has proven so successful that,
with the backing of the ministry of
higher education, it is now being
adopted across all of Tunisia’s
universities.
The proportion of students citing setting
up their own businesses among their
top three post university career plans,
has risen steeply from just 3.8% in
2004 to 46% last year, when a third of
all Sfax graduates stated that becoming
an entrepreneur was their key aim.
Validating projects
“We still have more to do. We need to
improve implementation and for that
we need ideas,” Professor said
Lassaad Mezghani, Associate Professor
of Economics at Sfax,said, adding that
one way to share good practice would
be to agree methods for validating
projects that could be adapted to
country-specific needs.
The extent to which entrepreneurship
education could be promoted in
different countries depended on many
factors – political, structural and cultural
participants agreed.
In countries such as Bosnia and
Herzegovina, where a federal structure
meant that educational policy was
decided at a local (canton) level,
achieving a common approach was a
challenge. In other countries, such as
Israel where there is no national
strategy for entrepreneurship
education, a strong enterprise culture
has encouraged the establishment of
small businesses, particularly in high
technology fields.
Delegates the meeting agreed that
continued cooperation, networking and
sharing of best practice would enable
the momentum to be maintained.
Tony Gribben, the ETF’s team leader
for entrepreneurial learning, noted: “If
we are going to move forward with
entrepreneurship education in any
kind of strategic way it requires a
national vision with strong
leadership.”
Leaders in business, education and
government ministries needed to work
together with other stakeholders to
create societies where
entrepreneurship becoames part of the
culture.
Ivana Pulitz, Director of the Croatian
Education Ministry’s Directorate for
International Cooperation and European
Integration, stressed that while
entrepreneurship education remained
“an evolving area in policy terms” it
was one where partnership could only
strengthen it.
Suggesting a follow- up meeting in one
year’s time, Mr Curavic of DG Industry
and Enterprise, urged participants to
concentrate on sharing “good practice
and indicators based on pragmatic
experience.”. ¢
Photo:iatpeurasia
by Nick Holdsworth, ICE

26. Live&Learn26
The rapid pace of technological
change, increasing competition and
changes in patterns of consumption
are driving new modes of production
and manufacturing in Turkey. This is
increasing the demand for highly
qualified workers who have the
necessary skills and ability to adapt
to change.
But the VET schools - whose job it is to
train this workforce - are struggling to
keep up. Such is the speed of
technological change that even those
schools which are well-equipped and
have good teachers at their disposal can
fall behind in a matter of years.
This creates a difficult situation both for
VET graduates who find their training
does not equip them for the world of
work and for employers who cannot
find the kind of workers they need and
may be obliged to spend time and
money retraining people as a
consequence.
For many, the solution lies in helping
VET schools to build a closer working
relationship with industry as the best
way of producing a better fit between
the training they provide and the needs
of the labour market. Șișli Technical and
Vocational Secondary School in Istanbul
provides an interesting example of how
this can be done.
An early adopter, the school began to
build its links with the Turkish car industry
back in 1992 when it began cooperating
with Toyota. The resulting training
programme aims to produce qualified
tecnical personnel who can provide after
sales service. Agreements have since
been signed with a wide range of
companies from the sector including
Mercedes-Benz Türk, Doðuþ Otomotiv
Servis ve Ticaret, Toyotasa Toyota
Sabancý Pazarlama ve Satýþ, Otomotiv
Sanayi Türkiye, Efsane Motor Servis
Ticaret, Honda Türkiye, Mengerler Ticaret
Türk, DENTUR- Deniz Turizmini Ve
Denizciliði Geliștirme Derneði, TOFAȘ
Türk Otomobil Fabrikasi. Agreements
typically include enlisting the help of
companies in setting up laboratories at
the school which are then used to train
students from 10th grade upwards.
Law helps schools work with
companies
The idea of promoting cooperation
between schools and industry is
nothing new in Turkey. The legal
framework was established as far back
as June 1986 by the Apprenticeship and
Vocational Education Law. The law
became known as the Vocational
Education Law in June 2001. It aims to
promote a closer relationship between
the two actors as a way of reducing the
current skills mismatch and helping
schools today to anticipate what the
needs of the labour market could be
tomorrow. Cooperation is formalised by
means of education cooperation
protocols signed between the
Directorate General of Technical
Education for Boys and schools and
companies. So far 172 such
agreements are in force but,
considering the size of the Turkish VET
system, there is room for a lot more. ¢
TURKISH VET SCHOOL
BUILDS LINKS WITH CAR
INDUSTRY
School - industry cooperation key to reduce skills
mismatch
by Mustafa Ozcan, Șișli
Technical and Vocational
Secondary School
Photo:ETF/M.Ozcan

27. Torino Process
The Torino Process is a participatory review of progress in vocational education and
training policy carried out every two years by all ETF partner countries with the
support of the ETF. Launched in January 2010 it began with a review exercise and
the preparation of reports to be discussed at national level. Live & Learn will speak
to partner country stakeholders and ETF staff involved in the Torino Process about
their involvement and what they feel works or could be done differently.
Country Focus: Croatia
With Croatia looking forward to a future as an EU Member State, Live & Learn
takes this opportunity to investigate ETF involvement in the country. Country
Manager Vaclav Klenha will talk about his role and experience and the spotlight
will fall on the challenges of economic change facing the country and how an
entrepreneurial mindset can help turn skills and ideas into jobs and
employment.
Live&Learn 27
IN THE NEXT ISSUE…
Photos:ETF

28. TA-AF-10-017-EN-C
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